Most people making their way to this site see themselves as serious gamblers, betting on sports, other activities or perhaps poker, as all these things require continual value-based judgement calls which are akin to the kind of decisions investors and investment analysts make continually.

Other people prefer games of pure chance. But of course ? simple logic dictates that if you play games of pure chance over a sufficiently long period and there is some form of ?house? involved, you?ll lose.

Therefore, games like slot machines, bingo, casino games and lotteries all have some form of bank or house edge which puts the weighting of mathematical probability in their favour not yours. Ergo, play on long enough and you will lose. It is this house edge principle on which all casinos are built ? and, therefore, the entire city of Las Vegas, for example!

But many people don?t mind this sort of gambling for two main reasons; the first is that they enjoy the process in some way (otherwise, why would anyone play slots games that don?t carry with them a significant jackpot?) and the second is that they carry with them the chance of a life-changing win.

It is this latter principle that is the basis for all forms of lottery games. The state lotteries around the world usually pay punters back with a c.50% pay-out ratio. In other words, if you buy enough tickets over a long enough period, the law of probability states that you?re steadily throwing away half your stake. This makes no statistical sense whatsoever ? but when people read about wins running into multi-millions (and, perhaps the good causes which some lotteries support) they buy a ticket anyway.

So perhaps there?s nothing wrong with pure chance as long as you know that the stats are stacked firmly against you ? as it gives you chance to dream about that life-changing big win potential.

But if you?re a serious gambler who treats gambling more like investing, then you?re going to have to find a way of coming put steadily ahead. This calls for continually shrewd judgement calls as well as an acceptance that you?re going to win a few and lose a few ? it?s an overall numbers game after all.

This rules out every casino game there is other than poker. With games of poker, and particularly with poker tournaments, there is a huge amount of judgement, strategy, skill, persistence and patience involved, so you stand a good chance of steadily making a profit if your judgement is shrewd enough. There are many poker professionals out there making a very handsome living from poker ? but there are far more people who tried and failed.

Overall, then, it?s horses for courses. It?s either unashamed chance gambling with the chance to win big ? or it?s about using your own judgement and knowledge to beat the market. If you see yourself in the latter camp, then remember to specialise; honing your skills and knowledge ever more ? and, above all, build up with smaller stakes you can comfortably afford to lose until you?ve proved to yourself that you?re as good as you think you may be.